Good year ahead for small companies

Fund manager's comment

The recent results season has been good in the UK, with most companies reporting better than expecte...

The recent results season has been good in the UK, with most companies reporting better than expected numbers. Outlook statements have been positive and analysts have been busy revising upward their forecasts. I expect large-cap stocks to perform better in the coming months because of the sharp outperformance we have seen so far in 2003 in second-tier stocks. Such an improvement in relative return may not be too substantial however, and the long-term case for over-weighting small-cap companies is still in place. I hope to see further progress by the overall market in the last few weeks of...